phoenix1589

*wasn't sure where this belonged so I posted here. Mods, please relocate thread if it's in the wrong area*

Hello everyone!

So I have a question about my 91 firebird (v8 305 tbi 5.0L automatic)...

My brakes have been acting funny, and I know it's the calipers getting stuck. I had the same problem with my other car. For the time being, since I need to use the vehicle, before I leave my house, I drive around my parking lot slowly in circles pumping the brakes for the calipers to release. Then I get on the road and everything is fine. No brake problems (brake pads and discs are actually good, just the calipers get a little testy once in a while, but I need to replace everything asap).

So today as I was driving around the lot, my car just SHUT OFF twice. Out of nowhere. It didn't sputter. It didn't stall. It just shut off. The lights stayed on. All electrical components stayed on. But the car shut off just suddenly while running, almost as if the power was cut in an instant. I started it back up both times with no problem and took it for a ride. Drove it like I normally would. Floored the pedal, too. Stopped slowly and quickly. Pumped my brakes. Put it in park and revved it. Put it back in gear... And everything went just fine.

I have read somewhere before that vats systems start to get bad overtime... And sometimes the wires aren't working properly, causing the car to shut off as if it had a kick off switch. Could this be my issue, or is it something far worse?

It doesn't have a rough idle. The car runs smooth while I'm driving, idles quietly while stopped or in park. This has never happened before, and I can't wrap my head around it.... I'd hate for this to happen while I'm driving. I didn't notice if any lights came on. Gauges seemed to be working fine. Like I said, car starts up right away and runs smooth as butter... This is the first time this has ever happened to me.

Any suggestions as to why it shut off in an instant like that? And before anyone says it, yes I need new calipers and I'm doing them this week

mauijerky

I had two different issues that caused my car to just shut off then start back up with no sign of problems. One was the VSS. It would "glitch" when moving from a stop. The speed being reported to the ECM was well over the governed speed. This just made the motor shut off. A few months later, I was experiencing random stalling yet not being able to restart and keep going. But would eventually start up and run fine for a week or so. Turned out to be a bad connection at the main junction block by the battery (on the radiator pillar). There is an 8 gauge wire that jumps from the junction to the battery. I had to cut off the old terminal and crimp on a new one. I've had no problems since.

To test your VSS. Just unplug it. Drive around for a while and see if the car still shuts off. If it doesn't, then replace the VSS.

Schurkey

Distributor mainshaft/pickup coil is a possibility, too.

phoenix1589

ya know, this hasn't happened again ever since the day I posted this? i don't know why it happened on that particular day. thanks for the help, though